Saturday, March 08, 2008

The 115th good thing about Lagos: Signs on the street are sometimes a source of amusement

Back home, the "Don't mess with Texas" slogan is not only kind of a catchy phrase, but I think that it (along with fines that are occasionally enforced) may actually give would-be litterers some cause for second thoughts. Here in Nigeria, there doesn't seem to be any respect for the posted warning. People pee right next to the "Do not urinate here" signs. "No Dumping" signs get the same lack of respect. Just in case you can't read this sign: it is posted by the Lagos Waste Management Authority (a government entity that is woefully ineffective, by the looks of the streets) and it states "Strictly no dumping of refuse. Defaulters will be prosecuted."


This next picture is also of a spot beside this sign (I was in a go-slow, so I had time to take pictures at this place that I pass each day -- it's just down the street from our apartment). You can see the smoking mounds. Often there are fires in the mounds of trash along the streets. Sometimes there are big flames, but frequently it's just a smoldering heap of garbage. Maybe that's the tactic the Lagos Waste Management Authority uses to manage the waste.
We leave tomorrow for London, where we are staying in a hotel right across from Hyde Park -- I'm really ready to take a walk and see flowers blooming instead of smoldering heaps of trash along the street!

1 comment:

MB said...

Hello! I found your site through Matthew's! I'm always interested in reading what you post! Stop on by our family blog! There are pictures of my family as well!
-Misty (Ison) Brough, lived in Katy 1998-2000